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Exogenous Melatonin Improves Salt Tolerance by Mitigating Osmotic, Ion, and Oxidative Stresses in Maize Seedlings

Authors :
Jianhong Ren
Jun Ye
Lina Yin
Gouxia Li
Xiping Deng
Shiwen Wang
Source :
Agronomy, Vol 10, Iss 5, p 663 (2020)
Publication Year :
2020
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2020.

Abstract

Melatonin has been confirmed extensively for the positive effects on increasing plant tolerance to various abiotic stresses. However, the roles of melatonin in mediating different stresses still need to be explored in different plants species and growth periods. To investigate the role of melatonin in mitigating salt stress, maize (Zea mays L.) seedlings growing in hydroponic solution were treated with 100 mM NaCl combined with or without 1 μM melatonin. Melatonin application had no effects on maize growth under normal condition, while it moderately alleviated the NaCl-induced inhibition of plant growth. The leaf area, biomass, and photosynthesis of melatonin-treated plants were higher than that of without melatonin under NaCl treatment. The osmotic potential was lower, and the osmolyte contents (including sucrose and fructose) were higher in melatonin-treated plants. Meanwhile, the decreases in Na+ content and increases in K+/Na+ ratio were found in shoots of melatonin-applied plant under salt stress. Moreover, both enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant activities were significantly increased in leaves with melatonin application under salt treatment. These results clearly indicate that the exogenous melatonin-enhanced salt tolerance under short-term treatment could be ascribed to three aspects, including osmotic adjustment, ion balance, and alleviation of salt-induced oxidative stress.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
10050663 and 20734395
Volume :
10
Issue :
5
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Agronomy
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.847b46007f004ab3913b15d93c77b843
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10050663